Exams cancelled

[noblegiraffe]

Alternative arrangements will be made.

How stressful to announce that with no details about what will happen.

They've had 9 months to prepare for this. We've been expected to come up with contingency plans at a moment's notice. How the fuck can they just drop 'exams won't be as planned' without details? All kids will hear is:"exams cancelled " and then how do we motivate them?

@SnowballedMum

Can someone explain what they mean by 'how can they do CAGs as they won't have the data?'

Surely 'A' level students must have been doing some work and if they havent then:

• why havent the schools been all over them?
• how have the schools predicted grades for UCAS if they don't have any data?
• if students just stopped working in March then they were never going to catchup anyway were they?
• perhaps those students who havent done any work should re-think uni because if they can't do a bit of independent study then isn't uni going to be too much?

There was always a very strong chance that the exams wouldn't go ahead. Why havent schools been all over this to ensure they do have the data?

Ds about to take his mock A levels next week-this is about the worst announcement Boris could have made for the exam years and their teachers. It's so vague and wishy washy. Are they taking exams? Are they being assessed? It's so stressful for everyone!

Why havent schools been all over this to ensure they do have the data?

Because there was a prolonged outbreak of covid in our Y11s meaning repeated isolation because of the fucking stupid close contacts isolation policy that did nothing to stop it.

Don’t blame schools if they don’t have data on kids who haven’t been in.

My year 13s were supposed to have mocks starting on Monday. We didn't do them in November because we wanted to give them more of a chance to catch up on the stuff they didn't understand over lockdown 1. We've done one test since September (since February last year actually), and there were far more kids at the bottom end than we've ever had before. Also more kids at the top end, as wfh really suited our brightest students.

What can I tell my year 11 classes tomorrow? I've got 2 classes, I "see" both classes tomorrow. One class will believe me when I say we need to carry on working at least until more details are announced. The other class won't do anything, and won't even look at their emails from tonight!!

I daren't tell my year 13. He is upset enough about school closing. He did badly in his mocks done almost straight after return to school in September, as did many of his classmates. As a result, a new lot of mocks were scheduled for the end of January to hopefully get a more accurate picture but obviously that isn't going to happen now. I guess there is no point in stressing over things we can't influence but I do think that this years exam year groups have been hit hardest of all.

[quote SnowballedMum]@NeurologicallySpeaking. The government should expand early years provision, reopen children centres and implement forest school programmes.

@finisterreforever. The government should fund children in poverty for another year, increase child benefit.

The universities can be subsided for one year.

There is a work around that may be costly but worth it for our children.[/quote]
Lol you're hilarious. You are aware childcare is largely privately-run. When the government say they are providing free childcare they are not actually providing childcare, just payment.

So you want the government to rent out spaces, rapidly train nursery staff and put in managers? Before the summer?

I sometimes wonder if the government even realises that qualifications other than GCSEs and A Levels exist. It's beyond unfair to those students that have BTEC and CTEC assessments imminently upon them whether they will be taking place or not.

@treeeeemendous

I don't understand in this situation why some schools left their mocks til this term.

I'm personally wondering if some gcse exams will go ahead (English, maths, science?) Boris didn't actually say that all exams were cancelled.

Would appreciate some clarity asap though

Plenty of schools (especially in the SE) will have had plans for early mocks blown out of the water. My Y10 DD’s school planned for Y11 mocks in mid December. They went from from being open with a few children/teachers self isolating to closed in 4 days with more than 50 teachers sick or self isolating.

They had planned to do early mocks in December which were cancelled, then rescheduled for the first week back in January which were cancelled due the delayed start and then for next week which have just been cancelled again. I don’t know what else they could have done.

@NeurologicallySpeaking, The government closed a lot of children centres that we attached to the school. They could re instate these and train staff in time for the summer and fund private nurseries to expand.

The Association of Colleges is calling for the January exam series to be cancelled.

The Dept of education have apparently said that Btec exams will go ahead next week!

BBC are saying A level and GCSE cancelled but Btec to go ahead. I wish Boris had said that himself as I’ve got a full day teaching today and I don’t know what to tell my students

My DS’s school left their mocks until this term to give them the most amount of learning time possible before the mocks to give them a really good shot of doing well on them in case things went wrong again. It was a good idea and would have worked really well. DS has done loads of revision over Christmas and felt really confident that he would do well. This is absolutely not the schools fault at all. Yet again it’s the government letting them down spectacularly.

I have no idea what they are going to base their grades on now.

@JigSaw879

Completely agree. I posted on my FB (I know I shouldn’t have done!) about how frustrated I am and was met with grades shouldn’t matter. Well unfortunately they do and some kids genuinely want to do well and prove themselves. DS has worked so so hard and he should be rewarded for that effort not just given a grade that they have plucked out of the air!

Not sure why everyone is focused on mock grades as a basis for results? Mocks are not standardised tests, they are not set identically between schools, they're not marked consistently between schools. They are not a reliable indicator of achievement - they're usually used as a tool to give kids a wake up call and a kick up the bump to get them to work harder for the real thing. My DD has had reports full of estimated grades for years. Good teachers can estimate grades pretty accurately I feel.

I am sure good teachers can estimate grades pretty accurately, but in these circumstances the kids haven't spent that much time in school/college with those teachers.
I am sure that good schools/colleges and teachers have been working with the expectation that exams may be cancelled since the autumn, regardless of what had been announced.
But they still have less data to go on than in previous years, how could they not? They didn't see those kids for the last 3/4 months of last academic year and in lots of areas will have faced a disrupted autumn term.

My yr13 ds had excellent online provision in 1st lockdown, all lessons went online from before lockdown, full timetable and only 2 or 3 individual lessons didn't happen in the 3/4 months.
At the same college a friends sons received about 50% online lessons (different subjects).
They were expected to submit assignments and had online assessments in Jul over a 2 day period.
Since September they've been doing a week onsite then a week online. The online week consists of large lecture type lessons and the onsite week is smaller classes, consolidation of the online week and tests.
So he has received what I consider to be a very good education in the circumstances and his teachers will have information about his progress.
I still don't see how the information they have can't be less than they would have had in previous years.

And that's a relatively motivated, intelligent child, in a home that cares about his schooling, with the resources to access the excellent college provision, and no periods of SI.
There are no doubt lots of other children in similar circumstances, but I suspect that they are the minority rather than the majority.

Dd is in year 13 and spent the summer holidays revising AS level, thinking this is what the tests, when she went back, would cover. However, when she returned, she had a week to study for 4 tests in 4 different subjects, all on the same day, on topics from year 2 A level, none of which she had revised over the holidays.

Though her predicted grades dropped slightly, she knew she had A levels at the end, which are set exams and she knew what she would be working towards.

She worked hard over the Christmas holidays for January mocks.

It will be a complete shambles if A levels do not go ahead. How will the assessments be ensured to be fairer? At least those who are working hard and self studying will have a chance to prove what they can do. At University they will be expected to study on their own initiative and schools have been providing online lessons.

@HappySonHappyMum

Not sure why everyone is focused on mock grades as a basis for results? Mocks are not standardised tests, they are not set identically between schools, they're not marked consistently between schools. They are not a reliable indicator of achievement - they're usually used as a tool to give kids a wake up call and a kick up the bump to get them to work harder for the real thing. My DD has had reports full of estimated grades for years. Good teachers can estimate grades pretty accurately I feel.

Because what else is there ?

My DS did exams in October but they were told not to revise, that the school wanted to see where the kids were at.
If they use those results, it will negatively impact the pupils.

My Yr 13 dsd in recovery with anorexia has refused breakfast.. In tears.. Saying she feel she needs to restrict food as its the onky thing she can control right now, as uncertainty over exams, school, etc is making things so hard...
I do understand that government couldn't detail everything in one broadcast.. But fgs, just closing schools and moving to online learning would have done for last nights announcement.
They didht have to say anything about exams yet... Until they could give firm plans.
The anxiety this is causing is so painful to see

Barkleyspaubles

“@DenisetheMenace perhaps our schools have had different experiences“

Yes, they clearly have.

Very little online provision (from an Excellent rated Sixth Form College, consistently best results in the county) from March-July. Resumed face-to-face 2 days per week in September with a semblance of online timetable on two of the remaining days, one day, nothing at all.
Finally, full timetable online from yesterday so at last, after 9 months, some equity.

Our Yr 13 son had to wfh from February because of ECV dad, didn’t see a soul of his age in all of that time. He returned face to face, again part-time, back in September but local rates were so high that he was only able to continue for 3 weeks. He has been working from home again since, with equally sporadic provision. Nonetheless, he was assessed at 1* for effort in all subjects in the last round of CAPs. No amount of effort will help though when chunks of the curriculum have simply not been covered yet.

Finally, he is receiving the same live instruction as peers who were able to continue without interruption since September. His College are aware of his GCSE results, know his character, his strengths and his weaknesses. His tutors know what he is capable of, all things being equal. But all things aren’t equal, haven’t been all year, so teacher assessment is the fairest mechanism for him and thousands like him.
I dread to think where he would be were he one of the many thousands of children with ECV family, home for months on end with no access to technology, however excellent the effectively theoretical provision for them from their settings.

@FippertyGibbett

My DS did exams in October but they were told not to revise, that the school wanted to see where the kids were at. If they use those results, it will negatively impact the pupils.

Same here!! So I'd be absolutely gutted if they went on last years results, as my son did better the year before! By March they would missed a year of school

For A levels, perhaps the fairest thing would be to let students know what grades they will be given at the start of May, when in normal years teaching would have ended. Any student who then thinks this is not a fair reflection of their ability could then do the exams which are now scheduled for June. Hopefully by June the virus will be under control enough to allow this.
A levels need something to show what a student is capable of, rather than what someone thinks they are capable of. This is not a criticism of teachers, who have been doing an outstanding job in unbelievably difficult circumstances. However, judgements are still subject to being biased. Also, as seen in the last round of judging a grade for the 2020 A levels, the grade was dependent on how much the school was over or under estimating, in comparison to other schools.